Desk and method for the manufacture thereof



Nov. 22, 1960 c. F. cLosE 2,961,282

DESK AND METHOD FOR THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF Filed May 11. 1955 FIG.5

INVENTOR: CHARLES F. CLOSE Unite tates Patenti() DESK AND METHOD FOR THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF Charles F. Close, Arlington Heights, Ill., assigner to Arlington Seating Co., Arlington Heights, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed May 11, 1955, Ser. No. 507,586

3 Claims. (Cl. 312-255) This invention relates to a new and improved desk, more particularly to a new and improved school desk and to a new and improved method for the manufacture thereof.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a new and improved desk which occupies a minimum amount of space and therefore is especially useful in school rooms.

Another object of the invention is to provide a desk having a book box and a supporting structure so arranged with respect to the book box as to enable the user of the desk to occupy a separate chair close to the desk and to arise therefrom by a sideways movement without the necessity of pushing the chair as far away from the desk as is now required in conventional school furniture where the desk and the chair are not connected to each other.

Another object of the invention is to provide a desk unit of increased structural strength.

A further object of the invention is to provide a desk of enhanced appearance. i

An additional object of the invention is to provide a desk having a pair of supporting members or legs in which the rights and lefts are interchangeable on all models.

Still a further object of the invention Vis to provide a desk unit which is simple in construction, can be shipped knocked down and requires only the placement of two bolts for assembly.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved method for manufacturing a desk of the type above described at reduced costs.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the desk completely assembled; v

Fig. 2 is a partial sectional view of a portion of the book box and the upper part of one of the legs or support members showing the assembled position of the upper part of the leg or support member with respect to the book box;

Fig. 3 is a partial sectional view of the assembly shown in Fig. 2 at an angle of 90 therefrom, taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a partial sectional plan view of the portion of the assembly shown in Fig. 3 taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a modified structure showing the same arrangement of the supporting members or legs with respect to a different type of book box.

In general, the present invention provides a desk unit having a book box and a supporting structure for said book box comprising a pair of supporting members fastened near their upper ends near the rear of said box and sloping downwardly and forwardly and connected at their lower ends, respectively, to another pair of generally horizontally extending supporting members spaced from the book box and spaced from each other a distance suf- "we v -tom which extend partially into said curved portion, the

sides of said openings being at least partly in contact with the external surfaces of their respective supporting members and the supporting members being fastened to the sides of the book box within the book box. In the preferred form of the invention the generally horizontally extending supporting members are spaced from each other substantially the width of the book box and are generally parallel to each other and to the lower part of the book box.

As shown in Fig. 1, the book box illustrated at 1 consists of a generally U-shaped metal housing 2 having a bottom portion 3 (Fig. 2) and an upwardly extending rear portion 4 and an upwardly extending front portion 5 (Fig. 1). In the particular book box shown, the side members 6 and 7 and the top members 8 and 9 are made of wood and are fastened to the generally U-shaped metal housing member 2 in the manner described and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 320,677, tiled November 15, 1952, which matured into United States Letters Patent 2,728,480 on December 27, 1955. The top member 9 is connected to the sides 6 and '7 by means of hinges 10 and 11.

The supporting structure for the book box consists of a pair of legs 12 and 13 which can be made of any suitable material but are preferably formed from sheet metal by bending it into a generally elliptical shape as can best be seen by the plan view shown in Fig. 4.

The upwardly extending supporting members 12 and 13 are fastened to the lower supporting members 14 and 15, respectively, at the points 16 and 17 by welding or in any other suitable manner. The lower supporting members 14 and 15 extend generally horizontally and are preferably titted with casters, buttons or other suitable supporting devices 18, 19, 20 and 21, which contact the floor or other surface.

The lower panel 3 of the book box 1 is provided with generally elliptical openings 22 and 23 adapted to receive the leg members 12 and 13, respectively. These openings are slightly larger than the periphery of each of the leg members and the forward part of each opening is in the curved area 24 of the upwardly extending portion 4 of the generally U-shaped portion of the book box. The openings 22 and 23 are sufficiently large to permit the legs 12 and 13 to be slanted at a slight angle A from the vertical, preferably around 12 or 13. It Will be understood that the angle A may be varied somewhat but for practical purposes it is usually within the range of 10 to 15.

The legs 12 and 13 are fastened near their upper ends by bolts 25 and 26 and their associated nuts 27. The sides of the legs 12 and 13 in the portions adapted to receive the bolts 25 and 26 are preferably recessed as shown at 28 and 29 in order that the nut 27 will be disposed within the recess, thereby preventing a child from injuring his hand by contact with the projecting bolt and nut. The opposing recess 29 (see Fig. 3) is provided to make the legs 12 and 13 reversible so that the desk can be assembled without any special precautions or efforts to distinguish from right hand legs and left hand legs.

The openings at the upper ends of the legs 12 and 13 are preferably provided with a suitable re-entrant cap 30 as illustrated in Fig. 3. The purpose of the cap 30 is to prevent articles inside the desk from passing through the hollow legs 12 and 13 to the floor. Any other suitable 3 closure can be employed to accomplish the same purpose. The closure member 31) can also be omitted.

One of the features and special advantages of the desk structure illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 is that the upper parts of the legs 12 and 13 enter the book box 1 in the ,curved area 24. Since this curved area is the strongest part of the metal U-shaped member forming the front, bottom and rear of the book box and the legs 12 and 13 bear against it, the unit as a whole is stronger structurally than is the case where the legs are disposed in a flat area of the bottom 3 of the book box 1.

Fig. 5 illustrates a modification of the invention in which the book box is of the fixed type and has no movable cover. In this case also, the legs 31 and 32 extend downwardly at a slight angle to the vertical and are held in place by bolts and nuts 33 and 34. The rearward parts 35 and 36 of the upper ends of the legs 31 and 32, respectively, can contact the rear panel 37 of the book box which thereby provides additional support and a more rigid structure. However, rigidity of the structure is accomplished mainly by the fact that the sides of the opening 38 in the bottom panel 39 contact the sides of the legs and the bolts 33 and 34 hold the legs rigidly in place.

A general overall advantage of the invention, regardless of the type of book box used, is the slanting arrangement of the legs which permits the user of the desk to sit in a chair close to the desk and to rise from the chair without pushing it too far away from the desk. This is particularly important in class rooms where space is limited and the present invention makes it possible to provide a greater number of desk units and chairs in a given space. In conventional separate chair and desk units as now provided, the legs 12 and 13 are straight and disposed near the center of the book box so that a student must push his chair away from the desk a greater distance when he rises to recite.

Another advantage of the invention is that the sides of the openings in the bottom of the book box which receive the legs provide support for the book box on the legs whereas in conventional desks where the legs are vertical, practically all of the weight of the book box is on the bolts or other means provided to attach the legs to the book box.

An additional advantage of the invention is that the legs can be used as rights and lefts on all models. Furthermore, the desk is assembled merely by inserting the bolts 25 and 26 (Figs. 1 to 4) or 33 and V34 (Fig. 5). This makes it possible to ship the component parts of the desk as such and assemble them in the class room, thereby saving considerable expense in shipping and storage costs.

In connection with the foregoing description of the invention it will be noted that the portion of the desk adjacent the user is referred to as the front and the opposite side is referred to as the rear of the desk. This is conventional in the industry. The casual observer, however, might consider the front and the rear of the desk to be simply the reverse. The trade nomenclature is unimportant so long as it is clearly understood that the supporting members or legs slope downwardly from the side away from the user in the general direction of the user. It will also be recognized that the height and width of the desk may be varied without departing from the invention.

The invention is hereby claimed as follows:

1. A desk unit which comprises a book box having a generally U-shaped bottom with an upwardly extending curved rear portion and a supporting structure for said book box comprising a pair of independent interchangeable supporting members entering said bookbox through openings in said bottom which extend partially into said curved portion, the sides of said openings being at least partly in contact with the external surfaces of their respective supporting members, said book box held in horizontal position by the forward areas of said openings through the bottom of said book box bearing against said supporting members said supporting members being fastened to the side of the book box and sloping downwardly and forwardly and connected at their lower ends respectively to another pair of generally horizontally extending supporting members spaced from the book box and spaced from each other a distance sufficient to permit the user to put his feet between them.

2. A desk unit which comprises a book box having an upwardly extending curved metal rear portion and a supporting structure for said book box comprising a pair of independent interchangeable sheet metal legs of generally elliptical cross-section entering said book box adja cent the sides thereof through openings in the bottom of the book box extending partially into said curved portion and fastened near their upper ends to opposite sides near the rear of said book box, said legs sloping downwardly and forwardly and connected at their lower ends respectively to a pair of generally horizontal floor supported members spaced from the book box and spaced from each other substantially the width of the book box and generally parallel to each other and to the lower part of the book box, said legs being connected to said floor supported members in an area between the middle of said floor supported members and the rear thereof.

3. A desk unit which comprises a book box and a supporting structure for said book box comprising a pair of supporting members the upper ends of which extend into said book box through openings in the bottom thereof and terminate within said book box, said supporting members each being fastened near their upper ends within said book box respectively to opposite sides of said book box by a single bolt for each supporting member, the forward and rear portions of the upper part of each of said supporting members contacting at least the forward and rear sides of the respective openings in the bottom of said book box through which said member passes, all of the sides of said supporting members extending through said respective openings and at least portions thereof immediately above and below said respective openings being straight sides. whereby said book box is hed in place in part by being fastened to the sides of the book box near the upper ends of each of said supporting members by said single bolts and in part by at least the straight forward and rear sides of the openings in the bottom of said book box bearing against said front and rear portions of said supporting members, said supporting members sloping downwardly and forwardly and being connected to a supporting base arranged t0 permit the user of the desk to place his feet below the desk unit and between said supporting members.

References Cited in the file of this patent 

